Help with build around 4870 X2 - $2000-$2500

[hiphop4321]

Hello all,

I'm a newbie building his first PC and not going to one of the big companies this time. This PC will mainly be for gaming and online gaming with a few other tasks like surfing. At the core of the system i would like a 4870 X2 but everything after that im flexible. Was hoping to stay on vista 32bit since games really arent pushing 64 bit yet. Can someone please help me and plug in what i will need for this system?

Thanks!

 

[calinkula]

With only picking a video card the selections are pretty wide open. Plan to OC? Any preference of a dual core over quad core?

 

[hiphop4321]

na, no plans to overclock. Was thinking dual core s well since there are really no games coming out that really take advantage of a quad core. Open to everything though.

 

[johnyeah]

Well, I remembering reading somewhere recently for the new games, the CPU's are a bottleneck if you use 4870x2 so you might want something better than a dual core.

 

[sciggy]

Also since you are looking to go Vista, you really need 64bit. Vista uses alot of ram and if you want to use the max available to you, you need 64 bit. With that video card you'll end up with less than 3gb actually usable regardless how much you install. Other than that, i'd go with a pretty simple set up:

Any case you want ~120
PC Power & Cooling 750 watt PSU ~$120
Intel Q9550 ~$329
Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4 ~$225
Xigmatek HTDS1283 ~38
4gb Ram (2x2gb) ~$70 (im sure you can find cheaper than this)
4870x2 ~$550
Optical drive x2 ~$80
Haddrive ~130 (high ball, but depends on how much space you want)
few case fans depending on case ~$50
Vista 64bit ~$140

Total = ~$1853

Really rough system, I'm sure you could put together something a bit cheaper too. Might need a new monitor with a high resolution to really run that GPU as well. Keyboard and mouse?

 

[kitsilencer]

Most important thing to consider when you're building a rig for gaming is the resolution you're playing at. If your native LCD res is 1920, don't play a game at 1680 because the resizing creates blurred edges.

So what res are you planning to play at, and is the 4870X2 necessary? For example, if you're gaming at 1680, the 4870X2 would probably be overkill.

johnyeah commented that the CPU can create a bottleneck for your card. This is true, but only at very high res and settings (think 1920 and 8xAA).

Good luck with whatever you choose, and happy gaming.